Chemical crosslinkers are useful reagents in biochemical research and development. They are use to study protein-protein interaction, to attach small molecule (e.g., a drug) to a larger molecule (e.g., an antibody) as in antibody-drug conjugate, and to immobilize molecule (e.g., a drug, a peptide, an oligonucleotide, and a protein) to a substrate (e.g., a glass surface, a gold nanoparticle, and a polystyrene bead) in biochemical kits and assays.
Most chemical crosslinkers form non-cleavable bonds through amide and/or thioether functional groups. Only a few crosslinkers are capable of forming cleavable functional group. However, most of these cleavable crosslinkers require harsh conditions. Bis(2-[succinimidooxycarbonyloxyl]ethyl)-sulfone (BSOCOES) requires strong basic condition (pH 11.6 for 2 hours at 37° C.) to cleave the carbamate groups, disuccinimidyl tartarate (DST) requires periodate oxidation, and dithiobis-maleimidoethane (DTME) requires mecaptoethanol or dithiothreitol.